Cheetah population in India

Kuno National Park is a national park in Madhya Pradesh, India, established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary with an initial area of ​​344.686 km2 (133.084 sq mi) in Sheopur and Morena districts in 2018 it was given the status of a national park. It is part of the Khathyar-Gir dry precarious forests eco region.
The Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1981 with an initial area of ​​approximately 344.68 km (133.08 sq mi). In the 1990s, it was considered as a possible site to implement the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project and was chosen, with the aim of establishing a second population of lions in India. Between 1998 and 2003, approximately 1,650 residents from 24 villages were resettled to sites outside the protected area. Most of the inhabitants were Sahariya tribal people. These villages were also home to Jatav, Brahmin, Gujjar, Kushwaha and Yadav people. An area of ​​924 km2 (357 sq mi) surrounding the wildlife sanctuary was added as a buffer zone for human settlements. In 2009, the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was also proposed as a possible site for the reintroduction of the cheetah to India, starting with eight animals released in September 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi release 8 cheetahs at Kuno (National park) : Nearly eight decades after the last cheetah was hunted to extinction in India, its cousins ​​from Africa are now here to restore them to their places of pride. It is very rare for one extinct species in one part of the world to have a much larger population than another that too an apex predator.
Cheetah – introduced from Namibia – being introduced in India under Project Cheetah, the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project
PM Narendra Modi on Saturday morning released eight cheetahs in enclosures inside Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district through a mechanism by turning a lever. PM Modi released 8 cheetahs on his 72nd birthday
PM Modi reached Gwalior airport from New Delhi at around 10.45 am and left for Kuno, about 165 km away, where he released the cheetahs to the quarantine enclosures at around 11.30 am.
Union Ministers:Bhupendra Yadav, Narendra Singh Umar ,Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan ,State Forest Minister Vijay Shah were also present. Project head Dr MK Ranjitsingh, V Jhala, Dean Wildlife Institute of India (WII), NTCA chief SP Yadav and Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Unit chief JS Chauhan, Kuno DFO PK Verma, SDO Amritanshu Singh among others who played a key role in the project .

After dropping off the cheetahs, PM Modi went to Karahal in Sheopur district to attend a tree plantation program and then attend a convention of women self-help groups (SHGs).
The Southeast African cheetah typically lives in grasslands, savannas, scrub forests, and dry environments such as deserts and semi-deserts. These cheetahs can be found in the open field, where they chase and prey on herbivorous mammals such as antelope at high speed. In South Africa, the cheetah also prefers woodlands (in Kruger National Park), shrublands, high mountains, hilly grasslands and montane areas, where mostly adapted prey is available. Cheetahs were once thought to be extinct in Angola, but two adults were found in 2010. Male cheetahs were seen in the 16,000 km2 (6,200 sq mi) Iona National Park. This is the first time in 30 years it has been seen in the forests of Angola. This protected area provides suitable habitat for the cheetah, as it contains a large, open savanna where springbok and oryx are found.

In the 1980s, cheetahs were found in three protected areas, namely Kasungu National Park, Nyika National Park and Waza Marsh Game Reserve, which also borders Zambia to the west. In 2007, small cheetah populations were considered locally extinct due to loss of suitable habitat and lack of prey.

Cheetahs face ruination pressure from climate change, hunting by humans, and habitat destruction, which is reducing the size of their populations. Cheetahs’ own genes also pose a challenge to their continued surve. Cheetahs have a low rate of reproductive success, meaning that as a species they aren’t always able to reproduce. With fewer offspring, the population can neither grow no adapt to changes in the environment.

There is relatively little genetic variability in present-day cheetah populations, as evidenced by several different indicators. One way to test the degree of inbreeding is by skin grafting. This involves transplanting a piece of skin from one cheetah onto another cheetah to see if the recipient cheetah accepts or rejects the graft. In the perinatal population, skin grafts are readily accepted by individuals unrelated to the donor. This occurs among cheetahs, suggesed they have lost some genetic diversity. Another one sign of inbreeding is asymmetrical skull development. In inbreed animals, the head is more asymmetrical shaped. Studies of cheetah skulls in museum collections have shown that their skulls are relatively asymmetrical.

Cheetahs are facing various threats which are collectively pushing them towards extinction. Humans are putting the species at risk by violating their habitat, hunting individuals, and perpetuating climate change. Experts believe that cheetahs may also suffer from infectious diseases spread by domestic cats. Cheetahs struggle to cope with these pressures partly because they lack the genetic variability to respond effectively. Evidence suggests that in the past, cheetahs overcame genetic constraints and survived. As the wild cheetah population continues to dwindle, only time will tell if it can survive the current genetic bottleneck.
cheetah jean today.
The Southeast African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) is the nominate cheetah subspecies that is native to eastern and southern Africa. The southern African cheetah is found mainly in the lowlands and deserts of the Kalahari, the savannas of the Okavango Delta, and South Africa. Lives in the grasslands of the Transvaal region. In Namibia, cheetahs are mostly found on farms.